All Time Low: Damned If I Do Ya. Second line "drowning in a river of denial" applies well to the conventional wisdom about why Canada went to Kandahar. And, indeed, Canada was damned if it did and damned if it didn't go to Kandahar.

The Power of Minority Government

Don Henley/The Eagles, Dirty Laundry. This one goes out to Phil Lagassé as his argument about politicians laundering responsibility greatly informed this chapter

The Problematic Parliament

Bowling for Soup, Sad Sad Situation, because the inability of Parliament to focus on the big issues was a serious problem.

Patty Smyth and Scandal, The Warrior, for the same reasons I used it for the NATO book: that the war reminded the Canadian public of the Forces' day job.

Where are the Canadians: The Public and the Media

Joan Jett, Bad Reputation, because people tend to think the public was fickle or easily confused and that the media was not as sharp on the story as they should be. As I talk about in this chapter, both the public and the media handled the Afghanistan experience much better than pretty much any other actor in the Canadian political system.

Learning Lessons and Drawing Conclusions

Kansas, Dust in the Wind, as the government of the day did its best to let the lessons of the war disappear in the wind rather than address the mistakes that were made. And, of course, because of the title of the book.

If these do not work for you, read the book and let me know what a better playlist might be at stephensaideman@carleton.ca .

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Stephen M. Saideman

Intro

Greetings! I am a political scientist, specializing in International Relations, my research and teaching focus on ethnic conflict and civil-military relations. I watch way too much TV, and I like movies as well so I tend to write about both and find IR stuff in pop culture. I rant alot about American politics and sometimes about Canadian politics. I like to take ideas I once learned a long time ago and apply them to whatever strikes my fancy.